Descriptive.

There is nothing like cycling. The caress of the wind on your face, the bike flexing under you as you power up a hill, the satisfaction of getting to someplace new under your own power. There is nothing like it. It has been said that that feeling you have while cycling is to know how birds feel as they fly. It is true.

I picked up cycling as an adult like many others do. I needed a low impact exercise and it looked like more fun then the gym. A little footwork on craigslist and I was the proud owner of a 1996 Schwinn 6 speed cruiser. It was teal, curvy, and weighed 40 pounds. The first day I rode maybe two miles. My rear was sore, my legs ached and the back of my neck was burned where I'd missed a spot with the sunscreen. But I had remembered what it was like to be 14 again with nothing to do but ride and no worries beyond that day's math homework. In short, I had remembered how to fly.

During the next month I replaced the saddle and rode nearly 100 miles. At times my bottom was so sore that I could barely sit down. In two months time I had began to spurn my car for shopping trips. I took my bike instead. Baskets had sprouted from her rear and sides. I had even given 'her' a name, Esmeralda Sue. Riding her still felt like flying, like being 14 and free again.

Today finds me with a stable of three bikes. Esmeralda, a fast road bike and a red bike that is teaching me bike mechanics as I restore it. My kitchen is full of bikes and bike parts and bike tools. I rarely drive the car. And, it still feels like flying.